Huge Undertaking, Dredging of Hudson for PCBs, Nears its End

WATERFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Long after the last dredging barge leaves the upper Hudson River, scientists will track the slow fade in contamination levels.

General Electric Co. expects to finish this year removing some 2.7 million cubic yards of contaminated river sediment under its Superfund agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. After six years of digging, crews will have removed most of the PCBs on the river bottom discharged decades ago from two GE plants upriver.

EPA officials say it's too early to tell how quickly PCB levels in the water and fish will drop in the coming decades. And they don't know precisely when it will be safe to eat fish caught along the 200-mile stretch down to New York City. But the agency says it's already seeing early signs of success.

(Story by: Michael Hill, The Associated Press)